Monday, October 25, 2010

Although Meteora does not fit into the general focus of this blog, I decided to write a post about it to accompany the photos I took when I was there recently. Most Greek travel guides have Meteora at the top of the “must see” list and I can give testimony that its accolades are well deserved. My single greatest impression of Greece is the mountains – tall, rough, treed, bare, and any other terrain you can imagine. When I think of Greek Mountains, I include Meteora.

This fantastic vista, sitting 180 miles northwest of Athens, is located near the Pindus Mountains in northern Greece. They were formed sixty million years ago during the Tertiary Period taking their current shape as a result of earthquakes and erosion.

The word Meteora means “suspended in air” and refers to the monasteries that were built there in the middle ages. Long before that, fifth thousand years ago to be exact, The Theopetra Caves nearby were inhabited by humans. But that and subsequent history was obscured until the 9th century when the monks began to inhabit the rocks. During the fifteenth century, twenty monasteries were built as the Byzantine orders sought refuge from Turkish raiders. Today, six monasteries survive.